In the Footsteps of Eternity
by WhiteFlowersOnOurBacks
Summary: Seblaine post-apocalypse AU. The struggle to survive when all the world's a wasteland would be so much easier without the devil constantly looking over his shoulder.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: The only thing I own is the insanity in my head. **

**This is, I think, about as AU as I could possibly make it. So just to get some possible confusion out the way I'll start by clarifying a couple things. First, most of them didn't know each other **_**before. **_**(This also means that most of them aren't from Ohio.) Also I've played with ages. Sometimes quite a bit and in other cases only by a couple of years.**

**Enjoy.**

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There was nothing, as far as his eyes could see. No animals, no buildings, no people. No sign of life anywhere. Even the trees were mostly dead.

He wasn't surprised. It had been like that forever. A whole lot of nothing. But he made himself keep walking, feet dragging along. Once upon a time he had sung quietly to himself as he trudged but the sounds of endless solitude had long since pushed all the music from his head. Now he just kept waking.

Heading for the coast, hopefully New York. It was what all the people had done in the movies, headed to big urban centers in hopes that it would increase their chances of finding someone else.

Now he was wishing he had watched more of those movies and fewer romantic comedies. Maybe he wouldn't have stayed home for so long after the fact. He could have set out right away. He might be in New York by now if he had, even with his mountain detour.

It was pure luck he had made it as far as he had, certainly not skill. The first few weeks of his travels he had taken back roads, too afraid of what might be out there. But he had gotten hopelessly lost and it was sheer chance that eventually brought him to an interstate, just outside of St. Louis and headed in completely the wrong direction. Briefly he thought about changing his destination and heading for Chicago instead but something in his heart had cried out for New York. So he turned himself around and followed the interstate, making his way through Illinois, Indiana, back through Ohio (here he had allowed himself another detour because he couldn't bear to see Columbus again).

That decision had sent him on an unexpected hike through West Virginia and, most importantly, away from his food source (whatever he could find in rest stops along the highway). He had stocked up as much as possible before he changed course, filling his surprisingly sturdy backpack up with water, Gatorade, and jerky. But that supply, like everything else, was long gone.

To make matters worse the country was in drought. In all his time wandering he could count on two hands the number of times it had rained. Riverbeds were dry, vegetation was nonexistent.

If he didn't find water soon he knew he was going to die of dehydration. But he had finally found the interstate again, was following the signs that pointed him northeast and hoping to find something soon.

He could make it one more day, he reckoned as he passed an exit. (He had learned a long time ago not to pin hope on towns. When everything was happening people panicked, rushed to their local stores and stocked up. But no one had fled, had opted instead to stay home because it was clear that no where would be safe. At least that's what happened in Ohio. He had heard rumors that out here in the east the police had blocked the roads.) After that he didn't want to think about it.

Hours later- he thought it was hours. Time didn't mean the same thing to him anymore. But he still wore a watch and checked it occasionally- he was stumbling, feet getting tangled as he tried to put one in front of the other. His throat hurt and his lips were cracked and he was sure he had never been this thirsty in his entire life.

The music was back though. Although he could only faintly make it out. His heart beat in time to it. A waltz maybe? A last piece, something they'd play at the end of the night as a fond farewell. Sweet and low and nice and slow. One last twirl as he sunk to the ground. Overhead, the stars spun with him.

When he came to again it was to an angel and a devil staring down at him.

"Thank fuck," the devil said. "One less body to bury." Before pushing himself to his feet, dislodging his aching head from its position in his lap. "Make sure he gets some water," he snapped at the angel.

"Can you sit up?" The angel asked, voice light and beautiful. Like a butterfly in the summer breeze. He shuffled around behind him and pulled him up before pressing a bottle of water to his lips.

He wanted to gulp it all down but knew that he couldn't. The angel knew too and kept pulling the bottle away, making him way for eons before he could have another sip. At last he took it away entirely and recapped it, chuckling softly at the protesting whine.

"Sleep for a bit," whispered the angel. "We'll be here when you wake up."

It was the chirping of birds that woke him up. No, that wasn't right. There were no birds, not around here, not anymore. Someone whistling in the mockery of a bird call.

"Welcome to the land of the living," the angel said, smiling down at him. "We were afraid we might lose you for a bit."

"We?" He asked because he still wasn't convinced this all wasn't a hallucination.

The angel helped him sit up and waved his hand over his shoulder were a small group of people were gathered. Most looked like they were sleeping and the rest were sitting quietly. He could count nine others, although the devil seemed to be missing. eleven, in total, then. Eleven people besides himself who were still alive. If this all was a dream he hoped he'd never wake up.

"Have you seen anyone else?" He asked tentatively, afraid to know the answer.

"Not too many others. A few people travelling solo. We try to take in anyone we can. We ran into a big group a couple weeks ago. That's when we picked up those three," he pointed out three girls who were curled up together all dressed in similar red and white outfits. "They were the last we saw, though. What about you?"

"No one," the words nearly stuck in his throat and he wasn't sure if it was dehydration or despair that caused it.

"At all?"

He couldn't make himself reply so he just shook his head.

"But it's been almost a year_._"

"I haven't really been keeping track."

"It's important to keep track of time. To do anything, really, like we used to do. So we don't forget who we are," the angel recited like it was scripture. Clearly it was not his concept, but one he had heard over and over and had taken to heart.

"Says who?"

"He does." He gestured over the where the devil had rematerialized, this time carrying bags laden with food.

"Is he your leader?" It felt like a weird question to ask. He could remember (no matter how faintly) a time when people didn't need leaders, not ones they knew personally at least.

The angel shrugged and looked equally uncomfortable with the notion. "Yeah. He used to be in the army or work for the CIA or something. When we started out there was just five of us, three of us were from New York and the other two came down from New England. A man named Finn kind of lead us then. But he got really sick. After," the angel bit his lip, suppressing the memories of whoever this Finn person was. "It was just the four of us and we were struggling pretty bad. Then we ran into him," he jerked his head back to the group where the devil was distributing his loot. "He knows how to survive, that's for sure. And he takes care of us. Even if some of his methods are a little unorthodox."

He had so much more to ask but he wasn't sure it mattered. Not in light of the fact that New York was a wasteland too. It had been his one hope. A foolish one, he knew. There was nothing that made New York special, not any more.

"I'm Kurt Hummel, by the way," the angel said, placing an indicative hand on his chest and holding the other one out.

Tears clouded his eyes as he held out a trembling hand and grasped Kurt's hand. A shred of humanity he never thought he'd see again. "Blaine." He licked at his chapped lips. "Blaine Anderson." He smiled. He had a name again.

"Well, Blaine Anderson. Would you like to meet the rest of the group?" Kurt helped him to his feet and let him loop his arms over his shoulder because he was still unsteady on his feet.

Everyone was overly invested in what they were doing, over concentrating on their food or stretching out their muscles after a night of sleeping on the hard ground. It was like they were trying too hard to pretend as if they were uninterested in Blaine. Except for one little girl of about who actually did seem to be more interested in unsticking her Gushers.

"Everybody, this is Blaine Anderson. Blaine, this is everybody." Everybody looked up from their tasks and offered him varying degrees of a acknowledgment. Although they were all sitting close together there were very distinct groups. Kurt pointed out the first one. It was made up of three guys, two of whom were older than Blaine and one a couple of years younger. "Over here we have our second in command, Wes. Jon, our pack mule. And Puck. He's in charge of the business side of things."

"Business?" Puck didn't look very much like a businessman to Blaine, with his weird Mohawk like haircut and work boots. Not to mention the fact that, he was hardly the definition of a man. Probably 15 at the oldest.

"Lock picking and looting, mostly. And the other unsavory tasks the bossman doesn't want to deal with," Puck spoke up bearing his teeth in what might have been a smile. "I always knew being the ultimate badass would pay off."

"He's as harmless as a puppy, really," Kurt assured him, gently tugging his arm and leading to the next group.

"Yeah. One of those Dobermans that could kill you in your sleep," Puck called after them. Kurt rolled his eyes and shook his head in amused tolerance.

"And over here were have the Unholy Trinity." He waved his arm with a flourish like some kind of tour guide. "Quinn, who seems to think she's our mother."

"Keep up with that attitude and you won't be getting any supper, young man," she admonished playfully. "If you ever need anything just ask me," she said turning to Blaine. "You're way too skinny."

Blaine blushed and shuffled his feet. He hadn't had a need to care about his appearance for so long, had barely noticed when his pants started slipping down his hips, he had just cinched his belt tighter and carried on. And it wasn't like he had the ability to eat a full meal, or really anything with nutritional value.

"And this is Santana," Kurt interrupted his thoughts. "She's our Minister of Defense. And Britt."

"Hello," Blaine muttered at the sweet looking blonde.

Kurt leaned closer to him and, under his breath, said "She doesn't talk."

"Oh."

His response seemed to immediately offend the Latina. "That a problem, twinkletoes?" She had sat up straighter and her back was tense like she was just waiting to launch herself at Blaine and claw his face off with her surprisingly long fingernails.

"No problem. I just didn't know." Without thinking he looked over to Kurt for reassurance. And, once again, Kurt was rolling his eyes.

"Want to show Blaine your job, Britt?" He asked kindly. It wasn't quite condescending but that, combined with Santana's lack of response made Blaine wonder if she wasn't a bit simple in addition to being mute.

Eagerly Brittney was digging through the red backpack at her feet and eventually emerged with one of those day-by-day tear away calendars clutched in her hands. Proudly she tore away the top page and carefully placed it back in the bag before holding it out to Blaine for inspection. On the left was a picture of a cat tangled up in yarn and the right proclaimed it to be the 18th of October.

"We think that's the right date, give or take a week or two," Kurt explained, noticing how Blaine's eyes lingered over the number at the top of the page. "We had to do a bit of guess work. In the first couple weeks it didn't seem that important to keep track. And it seems to match up with the weather. Although who knows how accurate that is anymore."

Handing back the calendar, he smiled at her again and this time she returned it. She had a very nice smile, he decided, like she wanted to be friends with everyone. Certainly much more welcoming than Santana's.

"Pleasure to meet you ladies," Blaine said, bowing his head to them.

They looked at each other for a minute before breaking out into a burst of giggles as Quinn cooed, "Such a gentleman, this one."

Before Blaine had time to come up with a reply he was being directed past a sleeping man towards the little girl he had noticed earlier and a young woman. "Who's that?" He asked, pointing at the man.

"Mike. He's the resident doctor. He had the night shift last night."

"Night shift?"

"Guard duty. Not really necessary, but you never know. We would've never run into Quinn's group without it. They were about a mile away and Puck saw the beams of their flashlights. Once, very early on, we got attacked by wild dogs. Last time we had fresh meat." Kurt sighed longingly.

Blaine couldn't even remember the last time he had real meat. Right after, probably, before the electricity went out, while he was still at home waiting.

"Who's this?" The little girl asked. "He's a cutie, but his eyebrows are too big."

His hand immediately shot to his forehead in a pointless attempt to try and hide his, apparently, offensive eyebrows.

"Sorry about that," the young woman said. "Sugar's normally a sweetheart but she can be a little crass. Bas encourages it, of course. I'm Rachel by the way," she held out her hand for him to shake.

"Blaine."

"Nice to meet you, Blaine." Her smile looked like it wanted to be genuine, but she couldn't quite muster the strength to get it there.

"Rach, believe it or not, was my babysitter when I was little. Then-"

"I was engaged to his half-brother, Finn" she said quietly. It explained the tightness behind her eyes. They had all lost someone, if not everyone. But she and Finn beyond all odds had made it out together and to lose him after all that must have been devastating.

"I'm sorry." It was such a feeble thing to say, went nowhere near far enough to encapsulate the magnitude of everything.

Rachel it seemed appreciated it nevertheless. "Thank you."

"Rachel's job is to keep us culturally educated."

"And Sugar, does she have a job?" Blaine asked.

Sugar pouted and tossed her hair back. "Of course I do. _Everyone_ has a job."

Kurt crouched down to her level and poked her stomach playfully. "And what's your job, sweetie?"

"To stay young forever!" She proclaimed throwing her hands in the air and spinning around so her skirt ballooned out around her.

"Quite right, pumpkin. And you're doing a great job of it."

"She seems… vibrant" commented Blaine as they walked away.

Kurt laughed, a little tinkle of a sound that made Blaine's heart feel lighter. "She grows on you. Bas spoils her rotten. He found her outside of Baltimore, curled up between her mother and father and really sick. Have her tell you the story some time. It will melt your heart. He had to raid a hospital and he didn't leave her side even for a minute."

"Don't feed into her silly delusions," a voice drawled from behind them. Blaine whirled around to find himself, once again, face to face with the devil. "She was unconscious the whole time. For all she knows Santa Claus saved her."

"Bas, this is Blaine," Kurt said his easy going demeanor immediately changing to something more wary and formal. Blaine half expected him to snap to attention.

"It certainly is a pleasure," The devil all but purred. "I'm Sebastian Smythe."

"B-blaine Anderson," he managed to stutter out because Sebastian's smile was stunning and directed right at him. Awkwardly he offered out his hand and tried not to shiver when Sebastian's thumb gently caressed the back of it.

"Good to see you made it through the night. You are way too sexy to be a corpse." He winked and it was over the top and should have been ridiculous but it still had Blaine blushing like a school boy.

By no stretch of the imagination was he sexy. He might've been, once. The girls at Crawford certainly seemed to think he was, even if half of them were taller than him. But now? He was emaciated, dirty, and hadn't slept properly in months.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Kurt asked tersely. Although there seemed to be a level of begrudging respect between the two men a lot of hostility seemed to exist there as well. After nearly a year of no human contact such animosity seemed pointless to Blaine. But maybe that was part of their campaign to stay human. Not only did they assign pretty pointless jobs to each other, they feel obliged to like each other just because they were one of the handful of people left on the godforsaken earth.

"Funnily enough, I do. And I never would have remembered without your help, princess. Thank god you're in my life." He readjusted the straps of the backpack slung across his shoulders. How Blaine hadn't noticed it before he didn't know. Unless he was very much mistaken it was Lisa Frank and about 5 sizes too small for him. "We're having a meeting after Sugar's lesson. Try not to get too _involved_ in the meantime. Plenty of time for that afterwards."

As Sebastian walked away, smirking and whistling an obnoxiously jaunty tune, Blaine concluded he was very right in thinking he was the devil.

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**So yeah. There's that. **

**Not sure what the updating will be on this. SMH is my baby and gets first priority, but this story is eating away at my brain sooo you never know. **

**Reviews are lovely and so is your face. :-)**


	2. Chapter 2

It had been three weeks and he still wasn't used to sleeping with people nearby. After nearly a year of almost oppressive silence the slightest movement of another body caused him to jerk awake with his heart pounding to rapidly to readily fall back asleep.

Sometimes he would get up and chat with whoever was on guard duty, depending on who the person was (he still wasn't comfortable around Santana and something about Rachel's faraway stare told him that she'd rather not be disturbed) and whether they were awake. For the most part the guard didn't seem to make it past a couple of hours, excepting Mike who served his duty with enough gravitas to make up for the nonchalance of everyone else.

The first time he saw a guard falling asleep on duty he had fretted for half an hour over whether or not he should wake Britt up. She was too sweet and innocent to warrant a verbal thrashing from Sebastian if he caught her sleeping on the job. He had just pushed himself up when he was distracted by a subtle movement from the other side of the circle.

It was Sebastian, who didn't seem infuriated and was, in fact, severely motioning for Blaine to lie back down. Unsure whether there was some unwritten rule that said they couldn't get up in the middle of the night, Blaine obeyed his command.

As breakfast was being doled out the next morning, Sebastian sidled up to him and whispered, "It's something that makes them feel useful. Makes this into an adventure and not some fucked up horror story. We're probably the only people in this entire state. And, besides, you're not the only one who doesn't sleep as much as he should." He tried for a conspiratorial wink, but Blaine was having trouble seeing beyond the exhaustion in his eyes.

After that day Sebastian and Wes seemed particularly distracted. Sebastian was hardly ever around; always running ahead to do god only knows what. When he came back, sometimes not for two or three days at a time, the two of them would go off and hold whispered conversations, sometimes joined by Puck and sometimes not and with Santana always casting them suspicious glares.

Sometimes both Wes and Sebastian would disappear and then no one was really sure who was in charge, but they did their best to carry on with their normal routines.

Blaine didn't yet have a job within the group. He mostly fluttered about to where it looked like he was most needed. Somehow he managed to get roped into helping Rachel with Sugar's lessons (now that Sebastian was too busy to take part). It had taken less than two days for him to become completely enamored with the little girl.

"Just wait," Kurt muttered darkly after he wouldn't stop going on about her as they ate dinner. "Your entire opinion of her will change once you witness her first tantrum."

Of the fact that Sugar could throw an impressive fit he had no doubt. But he had been around many screaming kids and had learned they tended to tire themselves out quickly or else realize that they wouldn't be getting what they wanted anytime soon. He hadn't counted on her stubborn determination nor her stamina, however.

The first one came barely two days later, some three hours after they'd laid down to go to sleep. Everyone was jolted away by a high pitched shriek.

Immediately they all panicked, groping around for anything that could be used as a weapon and squinting through the darkness for the threat.

"It's okay," Rachel's voice rose over the din. "It's just Sugar, she's having a nightmare." When Sebastian was gone Rachel became the little girl's primary care giver and the two often slept snuggled up together. Tentatively she shook the child.

"Is she okay?" Blaine had gotten up and made his way over to them.

"She should be, once she wakes up. Bas said she used to have nightmares like this all the time when he first found her. If we can just wake her up, she'll be okay."

Blaine nodded and gathered the girl into his arms, running a hand through her hair and gently rocking her. It was unsurprising that she had bad dreams; they probably all did after what they had lived through. And she wasn't even ten yet.

It didn't take long for them to wake her up but instead of quieting down she only got louder. First it was sobbing, then screaming, then throwing herself bodily on the ground and refusing to be picked up. (When Rachel tried she got kicked in the stomach for the effort and no further attempts were made.)

"I don't understand. This has never happened before." Rachel looked apologetically at the rest of the group, all of whom were hovering around them uncertainly. After an hour Sugar seemed to have a well established routine that allowed her to rotate resting her voice and her flailing limbs without ever stopping her tantrum.

Everyone had tried their hand at comforting her and nothing had worked so they moved on to the ignoring stage. Even though there was no chance in hell of their going back to sleep while she carried on like that, everyone laid back down in their sleeping bags and pretended like they couldn't hear her.

Eventually the screaming subsided only to be replaced by the most heartbreaking sobs that Blaine had ever heard in his life. He would have preferred for the screaming to return.

"It's never been this bad," Kurt whispered from where he lay a few feet from Blaine. "She normally just pitches a fit for twenty minutes until Sebastian gets fed up with her antics and makes her stop."

"Did we-?"

Kurt nodded sharply. "Rach would have. Sometimes she listens to her. Clearly it didn't work."

It wasn't until Sebastian came tearing through the clearing that the sobbing abruptly subsided. "Wh-what's happening?" He panted. "Is everyone okay?" He looked around wildly. "I heard screaming from miles away. I," he paused to gulp down oxygen. "I came as quickly as I could."

No one seemed to know what to say as they stared at their bedraggled leader. His shirt was torn and there was a cut across his face. His look of confusion grew as he took in the relative peace of the campsite.

"It was nothing," Rachel said at last. "Sugar had a nightmare."

"That's it?" he asked incredulously, looking over at the tiny bundle next to Rachel who was snoring unconvincingly. "And you let her carry on like that?"

"It's not like we didn't try but-"

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," Sebastian snapped. His eyes swept around the circle until they settled on Wes and, while he cowered under the glare, he didn't look away. As second in command it was his job to maintain order when Sebastian was gone but, as had not infrequently been pointed out, the whole job scheme was little more than a farce. Blaine wanted to protest that it wasn't fair for Wes to take all the blame but Sebastian had already started speaking again.

"In the morning I'll talk to Sugar and make sure she understands." His voice was louder, intentionally raised as though to talk to a person who was pretending to listen. His words were answered with a nervous giggle that interrupted the fake snores. "Now I suggest everyone get some sleep. We have something important to discuss in the morning."

"You could be here more," Kurt hissed as Sebastian walked by them. "Instead of running off to play at being a hero, or wherever the hell it is you disappear to."

Sebastian crouched down so he was closer to their level. "Don't talk about things you don't understand."

"He just means," Blaine interrupted, sensing a fight about to break out between the two of them, "that she misses you when you're gone."

"If I could just take her and disappear, believe me I would," he said, making sure to pitch his voice so it carried across their circle. He didn't seem angry anymore, if anything he almost seemed betrayed that Blaine was siding with Kurt. "But somehow you all decided I was in charge of keeping all of you incompetent idiots safe and alive and that is not a task I take lightly. If you think there's someone better suited to that job then let me know and Sugar and I will be gone before the sun rises."

Blaine hadn't been with them that long, but he thought they could probably survive without Sebastian. But he couldn't imagine waking up every morning and not having Sugar's lessons to look forward to. And who would quietly sit up with him when he couldn't sleep at night?

As much as the idea of them leaving upset Blaine, it seemed to terrify the others, even Santana looked uncomfortable with the idea. Blaine could only imagine what their lives had been like before to have someone as prickly as Sebastian inspire so much (admittedly begrudging) loyalty.

"That's what I thought." Leaning back on his heels he pushed himself to his feet and stood towering over them for a moment before stalking off to his own sleeping bag.

Although everyone settled back down the frequent sounds of tossing and turning indicated that he was far from the only person having trouble falling asleep that night. The sky was just starting to lighten with the first hints of dawn when he managed to drift off.

Breakfast was conducted in near silence. The only redeeming grace was the fact that someone finally thought to grab some instant coffee during their last convenience store raid. They weren't allowed it every day (water was still a precious commodity and it meant extra washing) but on mornings like this they all crowded around the fire and took turns ladling spoonfuls of the heavenly liquid into their mouths.

A year ago Blaine would have been barely able to choke down inexpertly made instant coffee, but now every sip was bliss. It didn't roll smoothly across his tongue like he remembered it doing, but swallowing down something warm fought off the early morning chill and he could practically feel the caffeine pumping through his body.

Sebastian alone didn't indulge; claiming his grandmother would be rolling over in her grave if he lowered himself to drink that muck. But something about the way he looked at the pot made Blaine think he saw the coffee as something for _them_ and that he couldn't bring himself to intrude.

Whatever his reasoning it certainly made Santana happy as she scraped the ladle against the bottom of the pot. "We had something to discuss?"

The change in the group was instantaneous as they solemnly settled into a circle. Even Sugar was made to stop running in circles as she chased after nothing.

In the short times since Blaine had joined them they had had many meetings. Every other day the gathered to talk about the food supply or any other issues they were having. It was always done after Sugar's lesson and before the restarted their trek. All in all it was a highly informal affair and the only real rule seemed to be that you would let Rachel talk first if you didn't want her to be interrupting you every twenty seconds.

This was different though. For one, it was earlier than normal and it had been announced ahead of time. There was no squabbling to decide who would talk when and even Rachel was looking attentively at Sebastian, waiting for him to start.

"We need to take a vote." Sebastian was looking at them with a very serious expression and Blaine was suddenly struck with the understanding as to why all these people decided to let Sebastian lead them. "Winter is coming and we have no way to know what it will bring. But sources indicate it will be a hard one."

"What sources?" scoffed Santana. "Don't tell me you have a weather vane hidden in that Ken doll hair?"

"A group of men was following us for the last two weeks. They were decidedly unfriendly, but I believe them to have a credible knowledgeable on the matter."

An immediate uproar broke out as everyone began demanding more or expressing indignation at being left out of the loop for so long. Even Britt looked distressed.

Eventually Kurt's voice rose above the rest. "Why is this the first we're hearing of this?"

"You entrusted Wes and I with the responsibility of taking care of you and we decided it was best to keep this to ourselves." He nodded at his second in command who turned to Sugar and began pulling funny faces in an attempt to distract her. While her attention lay elsewhere Sebastian pulled up his shirt to display his torso which was now one gigantic bruise.

"As he said," Wes stood up and went to stand next to Sebastian, "they were unfriendly."

"So why were they willing to leave us alone?"

Sebastian barely repressed a grimace before he replied. "We made a deal." His voice had become hollowed and his face had shuttered closed. Across the circle Blaine could see Quinn narrow her eyes in suspicion and even though he wasn't entirely sure what he had meant, Blaine suddenly felt sick to his stomach. "Your safety in exchange for services rendered."

"Sebastian" Blaine gasped out around the bile that was rising in his throat. Anything else he might want to say was silenced by a severe glare and a dismissive hand wave.

"That is a problem of the past now. More concerning is how we're going to handle the upcoming season. The way I see it we have two options, either keep moving in hopes of finding _something-_"

"Like that's going to happen," snorted Puck.

"-or we can find somewhere to settle." Based on the reception of this idea it was something that no one had even given thought to. It sounded weird to Blaine, like he could belong somewhere and things could go back to normal. After everything that had happened, it had seemed impossible that anything would ever bear any semblance of normality again.

"It wouldn't have to be a permanent location," Wes hurried to assure them. "Although it could be if that's what we decided we wanted. Or it could just somewhere to wait out the winter."

Smiling enthusiastically, Britt thrust her hand in the air.

"Is that a vote?" Britt nodded happily in response. "So two for settling. Anyone else?" Wes held out two fingers on his left hand.

"Two?" Blaine leaned over and whispered to Kurt.

"Santana and Brittany are kind of a package deal and Santana gives her whatever she wants." Kurt chewed his lip contemplatively. "What do you think?"

Blaine shrugged. "Could be nice. I've seen a lot of this country and it pretty much all looks the same. I think I've given up hope on magically finding something different."

"Rach?" Kurt turned to his other side to address the brunet sitting next to him.

Of everyone she seemed the most ill at ease with the idea. "I don't know. If everyone else is for it I'll go along." She tugged on a strand of her hair.

"Well," Kurt announced, "I for one am tired of walking." He raised his hand and Wes put up another finger indicating his vote was accounted for.

"Would it be safe?" Quinn, ever more pragmatic than everyone else, asked over the chatter.

Sebastian shrugged. "No one understands the world anymore. None of us know what happened or why. We don't know how far reaching it was. We do know that all of North America seems to be affected and that, if there's anyone else out there, they aren't helping us. Here, at least, it started in the northwest and took less than a week to spread. We don't know why it didn't affect us and we don't know what it did. For all we know every bite of food we eat and every breath we inhale could slowly be poisoning us. It wasn't nuclear, as far as we can tell and it wasn't any disease we recognize but that's all I can tell you," he reported all of it calmly but the hardness of his eyes belied how frustrated he was at not being able to provide answers. "Regarding that, I can't see how settling will be more dangerous than continuing to aimlessly wander. In regards to not freezing to death, I think we should find a way to be indoors."

"Could we split up?" It seemed the fairest option to Blaine. He was all for finding someplace to winter, but some of them were clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

"Getting sick of us already, Anderson?" Sebastian smirked.

"N-n-no. That's not what I meant."

"Obviously, anyone can go their own way whenever they want," Wes said diplomatically. "But many of us feel that we're in this together by now. Distance communication is nearly impossible so if we split up now it's unlikely we'd ever see each other again."

He glanced over at Rachel who was looking increasingly resigned as more hands went up until they were the only two who hadn't voted. Rachel smiled gratefully at him before also raising her hand, Blaine quickly following suit.

"It's unanimous. Now to decide where we should go."

"We should avoid the big cities. That's not something any of us need to see." Sebastian looked grim again and vaguely Blaine remembered that he had started out somewhere in the south.

"Is it that bad?" Jon looked concerned.

"Remember New York?" Kurt, Rachel, Jon, and Wes all shuddered at the recollection. "It's worse." Blaine had no idea what that actually meant, but based on the looks of disgust on their faces he pictured the worst. Columbus had been bad enough, he didn't want to think about worse.

"Any other requests?" Wes smiled tightly in an attempt to lighten the mood. Immediately everyone started chiming in. Quinn had always wanted to live in Georgia and Kurt wanted to avoid Alabama . Puck had heard good things about Kentucky from his friend Sam. Sugar wanted to go to Disney World. Jon just didn't want to be in West Virginia anymore.

The happily chatted about all the places they had always wanted to see as they packed up camp. Mike told them all about the vacations he had taken to Florida with his family as a child and even Sebastian contributed stories about his time in Baltimore and Charleston.

If Blaine didn't know better it would have been just like they were the weirdest group of people to ever go on a camping trip. He and Coop had once talked about hiking the Appalachian trail and he imagined it would have been a lot like this. So, for just a few minutes, he let himself be pulled into that illusion.

xxx

Of everyone in the group, Santana was the biggest mystery to him. Her relationship with everyone else was precarious at best as she alternated between insulting them and ignoring them. Her callous nature was looked on, mostly, with a kind of resigned affection. It was clear that she returned the affection in some regard, at least she was fiercely protective over everyone but sometimes it was difficult to remember that when she was insulting everything about you.

But with Britt she was a completely different person. Her loyalty, first and foremost, obviously went to the mute blonde and she went out of her way to take care of her whether it was glaring at anyone who upset her or giving her extra crackers. Sometimes he thought he understood her, and then she'd give Britt that smile or let Sugar braid her hair and he was at a loss again.

"She's Sebastian's." Quinn sunk down next to him and carefully threw another branch on the fire. In the last three days temperatures had started dropping overnight and, where the fire had been a luxury before, it had rapidly become a necessity.

"What?"

"Santana. She's Sebastian's," she repeated patiently, pointedly following his gaze to where Santana and Britt were giggling over something.

"But I thought he was… you know. That he played for the other team?" He wasn't sure where everyone stood in regards to sexuality. Truthfully, it wasn't something that came up very much; everyone more concerned with day to day survival than sex. But Kurt was pretty open about the fact that was gay and no one seemed bothered. When Sebastian got particularly annoyed with him he called him princess and Santana frequently referred to him as porcelain, but there never seemed to be specific malice behind the words.

"He does. As does she." Quinn cast a brief glance between the two girls but didn't elaborate further. "And it would be fairer to say that she claimed him."

"Why does anyone need to claim anyone?"

Quinn looked at him with a spark of sympathy before stating simply, "For reproduction."

"Excuse me?" He tore his gaze away from the merrily crackling flames to stare at Quinn in disbelief.

"We survived for a reason. And whatever God's plan for the world, He can't have meant for us to just die out. If he had we wouldn't be here. So maybe it's our duty to carry on the human race."

"And Sebastian believes that?" He had no idea what Santana's religious views were, but Sebastian didn't seem the type to believe in destiny or some higher power dictating his every move.

Quinn laughed daintily and gave her head a small shake. "Not in those exact words, no. But he does understand the importance of doing our part to help with repopulation."

The fact that anyone could talk so calmly about having children in terms of an obligation and not a desire nearly made his head spin. One more aspect that never quite seemed to be covered in B grade films.

"Before we joined the group, it wasn't really something they talked about. The only girl they had was Rachel and she had just lost her fiancée. She'll do her part when the time comes, I'm sure. But it would have been insensitive to force the issue before. But now Santana and I are viable candidates, so it's become a real discussion."

Blaine didn't even need to ask about Britt. If she and Santana actually were together, the Latina would probably kill anyone who even tried to touch her. "What about you? Who have you… claimed?" He asked instead, trying to phrase it as politely as possible.

"We've only discussed Santana so far. We're not barbarians. We don't want this to just turn into _mating._ I mean, we understand that it will if we don't find someone. But Santana is never going to find a man she wants to be with and Sebastian will never find a woman and neither will get particular enjoyment from their union. So that's fair and makes them an even match."

"So because they're both gay they'll make good parents?"

"Honestly, I'm a little afraid for their children. But they'll both view the sex in the same way and that will be most fair."

"Could she not… with Kurt?" The idea of Sebastian and Santana having offspring was a little horrifying to him, not just for the sake of the child, but for the sake of all of them. In many ways they were too alike for their own good, and nothing to temper their harsher aspects in a child? That would be the most strong-willed, egotistical kid to ever walk the planet.

"Theoretically she could. And I think everyone would be a lot more comfortable with that. But she picked Sebastian and we have to respect that." She tried to suppress a laugh as she continued, "Besides, Santana and Kurt can barely make dinner together, never mind make a kid." Even Blaine had to smile a little at that. "It's not binding and it won't be happening for at least another year or two. So try not to worry about it too much. Just don't get too infatuated with her."

"I'm not _infatuated _with her," Blaine spluttered only to have Quinn level a skeptical glare at him. "I'm gay." He hadn't really meant to say it. It wasn't that he was trying to keep it from the group but he was well aware that outside of the Dalton community not everyone was as accepting. It was enough that he was the new guy, he didn't need something else to be ostracizing him. And he certainly wouldn't have picked Quinn as the one to come out to since she was obviously religious.

"Really?" She didn't seem offended, just surprised. "Pity. Rachel's been making eyes at you."

He tried not to be alarmed at the fact that she was almost ten years older than him. In this environment age mattered less than it had _before_. That much was obvious by the fact that they were being lead by a guy in his mid- twenties despite the fact that half of them were older. "Sorry?"

Quinn shrugged and eased herself into a standing position. "No skin off my teeth. Word of advice though? If you decide to make your sexuality known watch out for Sebastian. Falling for him is a heartbreak waiting to happen."

As she sashayed away Blaine couldn't help but feel a little bit offended. Anyone with eyes knew that Sebastian Smythe wasn't good news, at least not when it came to relationships. Not that there was really any evidence of that, he just seemed dangerous somehow.

If Blaine should be interested to anyone it should be Kurt. Kurt, who had held his head and carefully tipped water into his mouth when he was on the verge of dying of dehydration. As opposed to Sebastian who barely had anything to say to him beyond the fact that he was glad Blaine was alive because he didn't want to take the time to bury another dead body.

Not that either of them wanted him. Or that this was something he gave much thought to. Worrying about who would make the better fantasy boyfriend was trivial when they were faced with the rapidly approaching winter. Even if they had voted to settle somewhere for the season it had been deemed they were too far north yet and as the nights got cooler and cooler it was a race against time for find a suitable permanent shelter.

Of course, he ducked his head as Sebastian leered at him from over Rachel's shoulder, if Sebastian kept looking at him like that he wouldn't even need to be sitting by the fire to keep warm.


End file.
